Harriet is thought to be 175 years old today, or at least that is what is being celebrated.

Yesterday, I took a trip to Twickenham to watch England beat Australia at rugby. Beforehand, I’d been at a lunch where Jeff Probyn had given a speech – un-reformed, targeting the many males in the audience ;o) – in which he had predicted a win by 10 points, with the front row playing the key part. His prediction was uncannily accurate as we won by 26-16. A good day out, crisp, sunny, perfect for watching rugby.

Amongst all the sponsorship, I was surprised to see that Microsoft had got involved, sponsoring a big screen which regularly displayed the latest Microsoft slogan.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, The Great War, the war to end all wars, officially came to an end. Since then, the time has been used to remember the fallen, those who gave their lives for their country, with no though of politics. Every year, the Royal British Legion run the Poppy appeal to raise funds to support soldiers and their dependents who have been affected by war.

Take a moment and remember them

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

For the Fallen, Laurence Binyon

Occasionally, it becomes necessary to go outside of work and get coffee from one of the many local coffee shops, forgoing the inhouse brand whose only real attraction is that is free and ocntains caffeine. The choice is usually Starbucks. Yesterday, we tried something different and ran a taste test between Starbucks and Cafe Nero. So 2 pruchasers went out and returned with samples of standard skinny latte which was poured out into plain cups, ready for hte blind tasting.

The results were mixed; 2 out of the 5 preferred the Starbucks, which for the rest of us was too milky. The Cafe Nero one had a more coffee taste, although the criticism was that as a latte it should have a more milky taste. However, we all agreed that the best tase was from when we mixed the two samples together to finish them – so we’re calling for a new drink. Bring on the Nerobucks..

Tom at TrueTalk Blog writes about explaining what he does, how it is not a simple as delivering mail, but is

about helping leaders create an environment that make people happy, in which they have fun, in which there is a deep sense of mutual respect and regard (love). Oh, and are wildly productive because of that environment.

That’s the summary of a long description, as he tries to explain his job. It struck home because of recent conversation with my family about some career changes I’m planning. When there’s no common experience, coming to a common understanding is pure hard work. Despite the fact that my current role is one of the few where I can point to something that I’ve been involved in (like uriplanet.com) the description of what I need to do to get there is long and involved. So sometimes, it’s like being back at school when talking to the family on the phone – ‘What did you do at work this week?’…’Stuff’ But maybe that’s because the usual call is on a Saturday morning before I have woken up!

But I’m going to follow Tom’s actions and jsut get something written up – and then practice heavily on the family. So that when I’m asked by people in a business setting what it is I do, it’s all there – the clear, simple, descriptive version.

On Friday I got an opportunity to go to Covent Garden to see the ballet Manon with Ricahrd who had some free tickets. An unexpected cultural treat, made better with tickets right near the front. Which meant I was close enough to come to the conclusion that the tights of the male dancers must have built in suspension, because that amount of lift and separate of the glutimous maximus cannot be natural 😉

No less cultural was dinner with Adriana last night, where we spent a few hours discussing lots of things as well as trying out Stormhoek‘s Shiraz, which turned out to be very drinkable.

And there’s a photo for Ian

Following the scifi channel’s survey, they have taken out a 4 page ‘advertising feature’ in this morning’s Metro. Their focus is on being a TV geek, clothes geek or travel geek in 1985, 2005 and 2025 (with Lost finally ending and a new TV reality show ‘Lost in Space’ where 10 contestants are set adrift in a space probe with limited oxygen!). Tech geeks, who called be called the more traditional definition, are given a scant 3 lines.

They offer words of wisdom for all who want to climb the ‘golden staircase to geekdon’:

• Realise your passion – find a topic and know it inside out
• Spend time and money on it – aquire knoweldge and stuff (lots of stuff)
• Talk about it – let everyone know and bamboozle your friends.

So, what are you waiting for?